Did you hear that HTC just announced its new One phone? It looks pretty cool. Naturally, at least some people will be clamoring to get their hands all over this. Those people can kindly be directed here, where the Taiwanese manufacturer is accepting email sign ups for people who want to trade in their old handsets.

The language is actually mildly antagonistic towards competitors ("Upgrade to HTC", "Everything your phone isn't"...maybe the company is ready to get more aggressive with its marketing?), but the message is clear: if you have an old phone, you get at least $100 towards the purchase of a new One. While it's possible you can get more—the page promises "either $100 or the trade-in value of your old phone-whichever's greater"—chances are most devices that you're willing to part with will not get you much more than the baseline.

Still, it's better than letting that old Captivate collect dust in your drawer. You said you'd put it online months ago, but you still haven't gotten around to it. Maybe it's just time to move on?

Eric is a snarky technophile with a taste for the unusual. When he's not obsessing about Android, you can usually find him obsessing about movies, psychology, or the perfect energy drink. Eric weaves his own special blend of snark, satire, and comedy into all his articles.

Comments

Hmmmm...I'm currently using my Evo LTE. I still have my old Hero laying around...perhaps I'll send them the Hero ;)

jfgen

It matters to say that this is US only, at least from what I could read on their website.

http://twitter.com/IamPeePay Tomáš Petrík

Will they accept anything, like a Nokia 3310? :)
If so, not a bad deal, for $100...

Tyler Humphreys

"You must have an eligible used device as defined by the on-line Tool."
(From terms and conditions)

No idea where this tool is, but it will probably be limited to smartphones.

http://twitter.com/s99nj S. Ali

Non-removable battery, no buy.

https://twitter.com/#!/doomstang Doomstang

I wasn't fond of the non-removable in my Evo LTE....but I've found that its really not so bad.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000003999549 Mike Harris

I honestly didn't realize anyone did that other than Apple.

Personally, I would never even entertain the idea of getting a phone without access to the battery - regardless of how good it was. I carry a couple of extra fully-charged batteries with me when I know I'll be away from a charger for any extended period of time. It may seem crazy, but even if I'm at home and suddenly realize my battery's about to die, it's much easier for me to swap it out with one sitting in a charger than it is to plug it in and wait for it to charge before I can do anything or go anywhere.

I don't care how much more it costs for the batteries. I've been stuck too many times without any juice in my phone and no access to a charger.

http://twitter.com/s99nj S. Ali

Yup, I can get cheap $10 batteries from China. I game a lot on my phone, I can give up good looks for a removable back.

MeCampbell30

Good luck finding a top of the line phone in the next year.

http://twitter.com/lean6rtj2 lean6rtj

Is that $100 and then you pay retail for the phone...or do you still get the carrier contract price?

http://codytoombs.wordpress.com/ Cody Toombs

It's a pre-paid visa card. I haven't seen any reason that you even have to use it towards another phone.

David Neylon

And apparently not available through Verizon. :(

Tanmay Jain

I believe its only for US since the India site just refreshes when one says Sign Up :-)

whip

damn, wish it was for India too..100$ for my 1.5 yr Chacha s a great deal

LookedPath

I don't understand...
You get a minimum of 100$ of discount of the new phone based on your actual smartphone or you get an initial discount and then they refund all the phone?
Sorry for the stupid question...

Floss

Is there any way to check what they think the "value" of your phone is before hand? If they would be willing to take, say, $300 off the price for trading in my HTC One X I'd be all for that :D

I read the fine print and it says in order to qualify for the offer you need to buy your HTC One on or before March 31st. That means the phone is launching before the end of March here in the states? Too bad because my Sprint upgrade date is on April 1st :(

http://petercast.net Peterson Silva

"Everything your phone isn't" is actually a pretty awful choice of words, specially if taken by people to be the One's main slogan instead of it being attached to this page only. Everything my phone isn't? My phone is great, I like it a lot, so... So I guess the One is bad?